Place Name
One of a cluster of roads with a literary reference. The Pardoe family, owners of Leyton Grange Manor, married into the Oliver and Thornhill families and some of their children were given first names that appear in Oliver Goldsmith’s novel of 1766, the Vicar of Wakefield. When the Grange Park building development of Leyton Grange Manor, was carried out by the British Land Company between 1861 and 1870, the streets were given names connected with the book, namely: Burchell, Goldsmith, Oliver, Primrose, Sophia, Thornhill, Wakefield, and Wilmot. In the book, the vicar, Dr Charles Primrose, lives an idyllic life in a country parish with his wife Deborah, son George, daughters Olivia and Sophia, and three other children. He is wealthy due to investing an inheritance he received from a deceased relative, and he donates the £35 that his job pays annually to local orphans and war veterans. On the evening of George’s wedding to wealthy Arabella Wilmot, the Vicar loses all his money through the bankruptcy of his merchant investor who has left town abruptly. The wedding is called off by Arabella’s father, who is known for his prudence with money. George, who was educated at Oxford and is old enough to be considered an adult, is sent away to town. The street was developed between 1861 and 1870.
